I watched The Red Turtle the other night. Beautifully animated fantasy film. This film is a joint production between the Wild Bunch and Studio Ghibli. I love it when a film has so much to say and not one word is spoken.

Slate 02/23/17:The New Trailer for Mary and the Witch’s Flower Has All the Elements of a Miyazaki Movie—but It’s Not From Miyazaki

Marissa Martinelli wrote:Studio Ghibli is dead. Long live Studio Ponoc. When Ghibli, the Japanese animation giant that produced such masterpieces as Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, closed in 2014, Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Yoshiaki Nishimura founded their own studio, bringing eight of Ghibli’s artists and animators with them. (The rumors of Ghibli’s demise were also slightly exaggerated; the studio’s animators, guided by co-founder Isao Takahata, worked on Oscar nominee The Red Turtle, directed by Michael Dudok De Wit, and a new series Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter, recently premiered on Amazon Prime.) While Ghibli guru Hayao Miyazaki keeps dipping in and out of retirement like the Brett Favre of animation that he is, Studio Ponoc is keeping the spirit of Studio Ghibli alive—as a new trailer for their inaugural release, Mary and the Witch’s Flower, perfectly demonstrates.

io9 09/23/17:Mary and the Witch’s Flower Is Destined to be One of Your Favorite Animated Films

Germain Lussier wrote:If Studio Ghibli made a film where Harry Potter was a girl, Hogwarts looked like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, and the whole thing turned into Akira, you’d basically have Mary and the Witch’s Flower.

However, it’s not a Studio Ghibli film. Based on a book called The Little Broomstick by Mary Franklin, Mary and the Witch’s Flower is the first film from the brand new Japanese animation house Studio Ponoc. And for a first film, it sets a high bar of quality, equal to their better-known competitor. The film is filled with lots of familiar tropes, but it’s done with such a bright, contagious innocence, you can’t help but fall in love with it.

Mary is a young girl who has moved in with her aunt ahead of a new school year. With a week to go before classes start, no friends, and no TV, she’s crazy bored. So one day she wanders into the woods, finds a special flower, and her life is changed forever. As the title gives away, it’s a witch’s flower and it reveals that above the clouds is a wonderful world of magic.

Which, yes, sounds a little like Harry Potter. And yes, there’s also a magic school. But Mary is an outsider and isn’t supposed to be in this world. So that’s pretty much where the comparisons end. Director Hiromasa Yonebayashi made a name for himself with films at Studio Ghibli so the visuals are much more comparable to the work of Hayao Miyazaki than anything else. The movie may look bold and weird, but Mary’s story is such a sprawling adventure, the juxtaposition of the two keeps the whole movie fresh. Just when you think it’s going one way, it goes another, and that only adds to the whimsical feeling that pervades throughout the movie.

Whimsy is a very important part of a movie like this. If a big, animated film doesn’t give you chills at least once or twice with a perfect combination of visuals, music and emotion, it’s failed. Thankfully, Mary and the Witch’s Flower does that a bunch of times. It’s just a simply delightful film. A fun, family friendly adventure that dives deep into your heart and plans its own flower.

Borys Kit wrote:Conrad Vernon, who co-directed The Sausage Party, has come aboard to direct MGM’s animated feature version of The Addams Family.

Vernon will also produce the movie with Gail Berman, via her shingle The Jackal Group, and Alex Schwartz.

The Addams Family began their macabre life as single-panel gag illustrations by cartoonist Charles Addams that appeared primarily in The New Yorker. Their popularity led to the Addams Family becoming a television show in the 1960s that starred John Astin and Carolyn Jones as well as an animated series in the early 1970s. The Family enjoyed a revival in the early 1990s with a pair of hit movies that starred Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia and Christina Ricci.

The premise revolved around taking the American family ideal and giving it a morbid and satirical spin. The parents were named Gomez and Morticia, their children named Wednesday and Pugsley. Also in the household were Uncle Fester and Grandmama, plus their imposing butler Lurch. And not to be forgotten: Thing, a disembodied hand, and Cousin Itt, a being covered in long hair.

Pamela Pettler (Corpse Bride, Monster House) wrote the screenplay based on the cartoons with revisions by Matt Lieberman.

Vernon is an animation vet who co-directed Shrek 2, Monsters vs Aliens and Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted. Sausage Party, which he co-directed by Greg Tiernan, was a surprise and raunchy hit that grossed over $140 million worldwide.

If you have a device capable of getting the TCM app the Chuck Jones The Phantom Tollbooth is available to stream until November 29. You will need to use someone's cable account to activate the app. A reminder: it's weird.

Josh Lyons wrote:The Three Misfortunes of Gepetto scribe Michael Vukadinovich has been tapped to write a fresh take on the beloved children’s classic THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH for Tristar Pictures. The book, first published in 1961, was written by Norton Juster and illustrated by Jules Feiffer.

The book tells the story of a bored young boy named Milo who unexpectedly received a magic tollbooth one afternoon and, having nothing better to do, decides to drive through it in his toy car. The tollbooth transports him to a land called the Kingdom of Wisdom, where he acquires two faithful companions, has many adventures, and goes on a quest to rescue the princesses of the kingdom from a castle in the air.

Donald De Line is producing through his De Line Pictures with Ed McDonnell of Maple Shade Films. Nicole Brown is the studio exec for Tristar.

The project has been in development for several years with various producers and only recently moved to Tristar from Warner Bros., where Gary Ross was previously attached to direct a script from Watchmen scribe Alex Tse. It’s no wonder that attempts to adapt the book to the big screen endure, as fans and critics alike favorably compare it to A Wrinkle in Time, Alice in Wonderland, and The Wizard of Oz.

Vukadinovich, who landed on the 2011 Hit List and Black List with his spec The Three Misfortunes of Gepetto and later made his way to the 2014 Young & Hungry List, seems like an appropriate choice to adapt the book. He recently tackled drafts of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride for Disney and the The Wind and the Willows remake starring Ricky Gervais. He is currently adapting Matthew Quick’s YA novel Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock for Channing Tatum and TWC.

I'm surprised they don't mention the Chuck Jones version. It is fuct up, by the way. Super weird.